Student’s independent travel, this photo taken on the first floor of the Eiffel Tower

The Alps near Bluche, Switzerland, taken in Sion, Switzerland

Summer Study in Europe 2016 – Another Successful Run

Posted: Monday, September 12th 2016 at 12:40 PM

Six credits, hundreds of field hours,Five weeks in Europe…Jump start your future.

May 27–June 30, 2016, SHRM’s Summer Study in Europe replayed this long-standing opportunity to earn college credit while living and traveling in Europe.

Dr. Paul Wiener has been the master-in-charge of this international experience for the past 10 years and was on board for the first three weeks to hand the baton to faculty advisor Kathleen King.

The first half of the program was based at Breda University of Applied Sciences (NHTV) located in Breda, Holland with Chef Instructor,. NHTV is the foremost institution in the Netherlands for tourism and hospitality studies. The second half of the program was based at the École Hôtelière Les Roches located in Bluche, Switzerland in the heart of the Alps, a member of the internationally respected Swiss Hotel Association.

It was an exciting opportunity for King and fellow faculty advisor, Darwin Mann, on the trip for his first time, to network and to branch out for the field trips that augment the class time. In addition to the tour of the La Trappe Trappist Brewery, their chance encounter with another brewery owner resulted in a spur of the moment tour. They visited a farm-to-table, biological farm store and a mushroom farm in Rotterdam called the RotterZwam, that used coffee grounds instead of manure as the substrate. They also toured two high-end hotels in Amsterdam. The Andaz Amsterdam Prinsengracht by Hyatt and the W Hotel Amsterdam.

Breda and Bluche served as excellent hubs to explore Europe on their time off, two four-day weekends and seven days in the middle of the program. King and Mann witnessed the students’ confidence evolve from the uncertainty of being in a foreign culture to the independence to branch out on their own.

King reflected, “It was an interesting dynamic in that this trip had 23 but only one male student. Also, they had their groups that they liked and they traveled with, but they were willing to mix it up for another destination. I’ve never had the students be that different in their travel partners.”

“That they were willing to put themselves outside their comfort zones was exciting,” said Mann.

Listen to what the students had to say, in Student Voices below.

Side note: The trip is coordinated through NAU’s Center for International Education. Scholarships are available and offer more than one per study abroad. Every person on this year’s Summer Study in Europe that applied for a scholarship received a scholarship to help offset their costs.

“Get out of your comfort zone, hang out with students you do not know well, and make friends in Europe that one day you’ll want to go back and visit!!!” –Jordan Jones

“The best thing that ever happened to me.” –Juliet Hilinski

“FOMO (fear of missing out) is alive and well when you have 28 countries open to you and have you have to fit in as many as you can in 5 weeks.” –Kaitlin Scaringelli

“Getting to travel around Europe for 6 week is already an amazing experience in itself, but getting to explore the world and share it all with my HRM family made it the best 6 weeks of my life!” –Brooke Lloyd, Graduate Summer 2016

“It was the best experience of my time at NAU thus far. I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to go. I will never forget the things I learned and it was truly a once in a lifetime experience.” –Emily Thompson